A British military personnel fixes a French army medical carrier inside a British C17 transport plane prior to takeoff at an army base north of Paris. / Michel Euler, AP

by Staff and wires, USA TODAY

by Staff and wires, USA TODAY

PARIS (AP) - France's top security official says the country is ready to prevent new terror attacks after its military operation to push back al-Qaeda-linked insurgents grabbing territory in Mali.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that France is well aware of the dangers of terror attacks both inside and outside France, but believed the threat posed by the advance of the militant Islamist fighters was far greater.

Declaring France had "opened the gates of hell" with its assault, the rebels from the Sahel desert region that includes Mali threatened retribution on Monday.

"France is watching individuals who want to go to Afghanistan, Syria and the Sahel. We're watching those who could return here," Valls told the French television network BFM. "We're facing an exterior enemy and an interior enemy."

French forces led an all-night bombing campaign over the minuscule Malian town of Diabaly, not even big enough to appear on most administrative maps, in an effort to dislodge the Islamist extremists who seized the area, including its strategic military camp.

Meanwhile, a convoy of 40 to 50 armed trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast, where they were stationed, as France prepares for a possible land assault.

French President Francois Hollande launched an attack on Mali's rebels last week after the rebels began advancing south. France's action pre-empted a United Nations-approved plan for a military operation in Mali, which was expected to start about nine months from now. Hollande decided a military response could not wait that long.

During a stop in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Hollande told RFI radio that he was sure the French operation would succeed. "We are confident about the speed with which we will be able to stop the aggressors, the enemy, these terrorists. And with (the help) of the Africans that are being deployed, I think that in one more week we can restore Mali's territorial integrity," he said. "Air strikes were conducted overnight so that the terrorists who are seeking refuge in Diabaly - they have not conquered the town and are hiding inside it to protect themselves - will be chased out."

The BBC reported that Hollande is looking to add to the 750 troops that France currently has deployed in Mali.

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